Printer s chase



(No Model.)

J. W. OSBORNE. PRINTERS CHASE.

No. 503,251. Patented Aug. 15, 1893.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN W. OSBORNE, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO CARL EDELHEIM, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

PRINTERS CHASE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 503,251, dated August 15, 1893.

Application filed October 13, 1890. Serial No. 367,98'7- (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN W. OSBORNE, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, and a resident of Washington, in the District of O0- lumbia, have invented certain new and usef 111 Improvements in Printers Chases, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has reference to improvements in chases designed for holding the type-matter or form, during the process of stereotyping, and the object of the invention is to so construct the chase and what is technically known as the furniture of the chase, as to permit the type, when heated in the process of making papier-mach matrices and drying the same, to freely expand laterally, so that it may not unduly expand longitudinally, and in consequence thereof, become permanently longer than originally made. Ordinary type assembled together to form lines and pages of print, or as it is called, a form, is placed in a rectangular wrought iron frame, which is called the chase, and is held in place within the chase by the furniture, which consists of wrought iron sticks surrounding the form, and a series of wedges or quoins between said sticks and the inner edges of the chase. These quoins are firmly driven home with such force that the type composing the form is pressed together on all sides, and is held in the chase like a solid mass, and as if it were solidly connected with the chase. The type is ordinarily made of a composition of lead and antimony, with additions of bismuth or tin, or both, and this alloy when heated, expands very much more than the chase and the furniture, which, as before stated, are universally made of wrought iron; and when in the process of stereotyping and drying matrices, the form in the chase is heated to a temperature of nearly 300 Fahrenheit, the type cannot expand laterally, owing to the unyielding resistance of the chase and furniture, and it, therefore expands longitudinally, and thus receives a permanent longitudinal set. If now, the type is distributed, it becomes mixed with other type which has not yet been expanded longitudinally, and the'consequence is that if a new form is made up of the normal type mixed with the elongated type, the printing surface of the composition is uneven, and is unfit either for direct printing, or for the production of a stereotype matrix. All this is avoided by the use of my improved chase, which is so constructed that the type when heated is allowed to expand laterally in all directions, and when cooled, and thereby contracted, will be followed up by the clamping devices, so as to maintain the type composing the form like a solid composite block. All this will more fully appear from the following detailed description, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which I have shown several forms which my invention may assume.

Figure 1, represents a plan view of a portion of a chase and a form held thereby, portions of the chase frame being cut away to expose to View several forms of my improvements. Fig. 2, is a similar view, without the form, showing another embodiment of my improvement. Fig. 3, is a like View illustrating still another form of my improvement; and Figs. 4:, 5 and 6, are perspective views of various forms of springs employed in the construction of my improved chase.

Like numerals of reference indicate like parts all throughout the drawings.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 1, the body of the chase is there represented as a rectangular frame 1, which, as has been stated above, is made, as usual, of wrought iron, and the type-matter 2, surrounded by sticks 3, 3, is held in the frame by the wedges or quoins 4, 4, which in the old form of chase, bear with one side upon the sticks 3, and with the other side directly uponthe inner edges of the chase frame 1; and since the chase proper and the sticks and quoins are made of wrought iron, the form, when heated .in the chase, cannot expand laterally in accordance with its coefficient of expansion, owing to the fact that iron has a coefficient of expansion only about half as great .as that of type-metal; in consequence thereof, the longitudinalexpansion of the type heretofore stated,takes place.

In accordance with my invention, I interpose between the inner sides of the chaseframe and the quoins or wedges, a spring or springs 5, 6,7, 8, and these springs are so constructed that when the wedges are driven home with sufficient force to keep the form together like a solid block, they will still be compressible, so that when the form is heated and expands laterally, the springs will yield to the expansive pressure of the type, so that the latter will not be forced to expand longitudinally.

It will now be understood that my invention broadly consists in making the bearing between the form and the inner sides of the chase elastic, or to provide an elastic cushion between the form and chase, so that under all temperatures to which the form may be exposed, the type will remain under substantially the same lateral pressure. I am,therefore, not limited to any specific elastic cushion between the chase-frame and the form, and in the drawings, I have shown a variety of such elastic cushions, which I will now describe in detail. One of the elastic cushions there shown is a leaf-spring 5 having a sinusoidal or undulatory form, shown in the draw ings, and which is seated in a shallow recess 5, formed in the inner edge of the chaseframe; the successive convex portions of this sinusoidal spring project beyond the inner edge of the chase-frame, and bear directly upon a bearing-strip t, interposed between the outer quoin or wedge 4, and the spring 5.

:ly preference, the recess 5, is undercut at its ends, as indicated at 5", and the free ends of the spring creep into these undercut portions when the spring is being compressed. By preference also, the spring 5, is secured in the middle by a screw 9, passing into the body of the chase-frame, as indicated in dotted lines.

Another form of elastic cushion is shown in Fig. 1, at 6. This is a helical spring, seated in a cylindrical recess 6, formed in the body of the chase-frame, and by preference, although not necessarily so, I use a guide-pin 10, having a curved head 11, and the shank of the guide-pin extends intoa hole 12,formed in the bottom of the recess 6. The head 11, of the pin bears directly upon the outer quoin 4, and the helical spring 6, is compressed between the head ll, and the bottom of the recess 6.

Another form of elastic cushion is provided by the leaf-spring 7, curved as shown in Figs. 1 and 4, and with its central portion fixed in the middle of a shallow recess 7', by a screw, and with its free ends projecting beyond the inner edge of the chase-frame, and bearing directly upon the outer quoin 4.

Still another form of elastic cushion is pro vided by the spring 8 (see Figs. 1 and 5). This spring is in the shape of a dished washer, secured at its center in the center of the shallow recess formed in the inner edge of the chaseframe, by a screw 9, and bearing with its free edges directly upon the outer quoin 4.

In Fig. 2, I have shown the manner in which a number of helical springs 6, may be coupled together to form one elastic cushion. In this case, each spring is seated in a separate recess in the body of the chase-frame, and the projecting ends of all these springs are riveted or otherwise secured to one bearingstrip 1', so that in this case the bearing-strip t, forms an integral part of the elastic cushion.

In Fig. 3, another form of elastic cushion is shown, which somewhat resembles the spring 7, described with reference to Figs. 1 and 4; in this case, the spring is also a leaf-spring, but instead of being secured in the middle and bearing with its free ends upon the quoin, it is not secured at all to the chase, but is loosely inserted with its free ends into the shallow recess formed in the inner edge of the chase. This spring 13, has its free ends preferably curved rather boldly, as shown in the drawings, and the recess 13, is undercut at its ends, similar in this respect to the re cess shown in Fig. 1, in connection with the sinusoidal spring 5.

The springs forming the elastic cushions for my chase may be made of steel, or phosphor-bronze, or of any material the elasticity of which is not seriously affected by changes of temperature ranging between the ordinary prevailing temperature and 300 Fahrenheit.

Having now fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patcut- 1. A printers chase provided with an elastic cushion on its inner edges, substantially as described.

2. A printers chase composed of a rigid frame and spring cushions on its inner edges, substantially as described.

3. In a printers chase, the combination of a rigid frame having recesses formed on its inner edges, and compressible springs seated in said recesses and projecting beyond the same, substantially as described.

t. In a printers chase, the combination of a rigid frame having recesses in its inner edges, and compressible springs held in said recesses and projecting beyond the same.

5. In a printers chase, the combination of a rigid frame, with recesses formed in the inner edge thereof, and sinusoidal leaf-springs seated in said recesses and projecting with their convex portions beyond said recesses, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN W. OSBORNE.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH LYONS, F. '1. CHAPMAN. 

